On Unity Day, Zelensky calls on Ukrainians to “choose not a shit, but a sword”
22 January 2025 11:15
On January 22, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Ukrainians on Unity Day and called on them to “choose the sword, not the shit,” "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The president noted that he was recording the address on St. Sophia Square, where the Act of Unification was proclaimed – the right- and left-bank Ukraine united into a single state, although statehood and freedom were soon lost – due to “ambitions, discord and enemies who took advantage of them.”
The Ukrainian leader drew parallels with the present. He noted that at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainians also united.
“But the day has come, and we had to prove it. february 24. The day that became a decisive moment. It became a challenge. It was a test of unity, of maturity, of faith in Ukraine. And we united. All Ukrainians united. Not declaratively, not on paper, not by some team, but by a call from within,” the president said.
Zelenskyy noted that Ukrainians should fight “together” and choose the sword over the shit.
“Millions of us are together. And together we were able to withstand, to keep Ukraine together, to repel the occupier, to hold back this great invasion together. This word ‘together’ hides the power of Ukrainians. It’s about us, about what we are capable of when we choose not our own ambitions, but choose Ukraine. We choose its interests. When we choose a sword instead of a shit. To defend what is ours. To defend our own. To defend with all our might,” he emphasized.
The President reminded that Ukrainians did not have enough weapons to fight the enemy, but “they definitely had enough courage, indifference, faith in themselves, faith in Ukraine.”
“There were not enough weapons for all the volunteers, but there was definitely enough courage, concern, faith in themselves, faith in Ukraine. There was enough strength of all of us, all those who prove that our native land does not end with the boundary of our own yard. This is what unity is. This is the unity that is necessary to win our right to live in peace,” he said.
